The Path Less Trodden
by John Winters
Summary: Jane and Daria realize a few things and make a couple of choices.


Disclaimer - I don't own Daria and I'm just borrowing the characters, so don't sue me.  
  
The Path Less Trodden  
  
Walking along the well trodden path that led to her best friends house Daria thought about all the things affecting her, Jane had been spending more and more of her time with her new beau and less and less time with Daria. Sighing she wondered if today would be any different, probably not. Daria turned the corner into Janes street and saw the rusted car of Tom Sloane, for a moment she stood in indecision and then turned away and headed back round the corner.  
  
Jane exited the house just in time to see Daria's form vanish around the corner and cringed at how Daria must have felt. She hadn't meant for Tom to give her a lift, but he had decided to anyway and she had forgotten to tell Daria. Well, she admitted to herself, maybe it wasn't quite as simple as that. At that moment Tom walked out of the Lane home and put his arm around Jane, who was glancing to the corner Daria had just escaped round. He looked at where she had glanced and turned to her.  
  
"What you looking at?" He asked innocently  
  
Jane ponder whether she should tell him and then try and pick Daria up, that would probably be a bad idea though.  
  
"I just saw....... oh, it was nothing. Come on, let's go hotshot" Jane pushed the thought of Daria and the problems in their friendship out of her mind and pulled Tom to the car.  
  
Daria reached the school and headed inside, she had a few minutes until the first lesson so she headed to her locker. As she neared it, she saw Jane leaning against it looking at a piece of paper in her hands and not noticing Daria.  
  
"What's that?" She asked in her usual monotone voice  
  
Jane was startled and dropped the paper on the floor then looked up at Daria with a look of surprise.  
  
"Hey there amigo!" She exclaimed with somewhat excessive enthusiasm  
  
Daria raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly  
  
"Someone drug your coffee this morning Jane?" She asked  
  
Jane laughed lightly, and shook her head.  
  
"Nah, just happy to see you is all" She replied  
  
Before Daria could ask anything else, the bell that signified the beginning of the day rang out cutting the conversation short. Daria quickly opened her locker and removed what she would need then turned to Jane.  
  
"Lead on"  
  
The two headed down the corridor and walked into Mr. O'Neil's classroom and sat down. The room was mostly full of the usual faces but there was no sign of their instructor. Jane leant over towards Daria.  
  
"Where'd you think Mr. O'Neil is?" She asked quietly  
  
Daria seemed to ponder this for a second and then replied  
  
"Maybe he ran down a cute little bunny and suffered a mental breakdown"  
  
Jane smirked and looked towards the door  
  
"We can only hope"  
  
At that moment a flustered Mr. O'Neil ran through the door and leant his desk trying to catch his breath, he looked up and saw that most of the class was looking at him curiously.  
  
"Sorry I'm late....the traffic.. you see.." He trailed off, then looked over at his lesson plan "Well then, today we'll be studying the works of Ernest Hemmingway."  
  
Jane phased out the drone of Mr. O'Neil and starting thinking again how she was going to sort out the mess with Daria and Tom. Why did Daria act so uncomfortable when Tom was around? She had, she realized, been spending a lot of her time with Tom now. Maybe almost all her free time. No wonder Daria was feeling annoyed, or sad. Sometimes it was hard to tell. Jane turned her attention to Daria, glancing sideways she studied her best friend's features. Daria seemed to be paying attention to Mr. O'Neil so Jane thought she wouldn't notice.  
  
Daria listened to Mr. O'Neil talk and began to doodle on a sheet of paper, out of the corner of her eye she saw Jane looking at her intently, studying her face. Daria felt the twinge of a blush at the piercing eyes of Jane but fought it if then turned her head and looked straight at Jane. Jane blushed and turned her head quickly. What was that? Daria thought surprised.  
  
Jane felt her face cool down as she gazed at the wall in front of her, why had she blushed when Daria had looked at her. That had never happened before.  
  
"Jane? Jane??"  
  
Jane shook herself out of her reverie and realized that Mr. O'Neil had just asked her a question, she glanced at her notes then answered.  
  
"I'm sorry, what was the question?"  
  
The hours passed and soon the duo of Daria and Jane were walking towards the field to eat lunch, the cafeteria had been packed and they had brought food anyway. The silence between them was comforting and neither felt the need to speak. The two sat down on the grass and Daria looked at Jane.  
  
"So, Jane" She started casually "Why were you looking at me like that in English?" Daria had a curious look in her eyes, but no expression on her face.  
  
Jane laughed nervously and shrugged her shoulders  
  
"I don't know really, I guess I was bored"  
  
Daria smirked  
  
"And my face is interesting then?"  
  
Jane smirked as well and took a sandwich out of her bag  
  
"Yeah, it's very interesting"  
  
Daria seemed satisfied by this and also made to get some food from her bag, she dug around inside it for a second then frowned slightly "Damn, I must have forgotten to put it in"  
  
With a sigh, Daria leant back and watched Jane as she bit into the sandwich. She too had been thinking about the situation with her best friend and her best friends boyfriend, she wasn't sure why she was uncomfortable around him but she could guess. It wasn't the first time she'd felt something like this, but all those times the subject of the feelings could be quite easily avoided. This time however, avoiding him meant avoiding her. And that was hurting both of them.  
  
Jane looked up from her sandwich and caught Daria staring at her like she'd been doing earlier, as Daria swiftly looked in another direction she wondered what her friend had been thinking about and whether it was the same thing she was. They needed to talk about this and she knew, Daria probably knew it as well but neither one had made a move towards it.  
  
"Want to go for pizza after school?" Daria asked suddenly  
  
Daria had stopped bothering to ask the question a few weeks ago when Jane's "Tom Time" had been on the rise, Jane realized guiltily that Tom had promised to pick her up after school and take her for pizza herself.  
  
Daria recognized the look on Janes face and tried to mask her disappointment.  
  
"It doesn't matter" She mumbled, "I'm not that hungry anyway"  
  
Jane opened her mouth to try and say something but the words wouldn't come, she watched Daria's face and saw in her eyes that she was disappointed. Daria looked at Jane, then down at her bag.  
  
"I just remembered, I have to go do an assignment." Daria jumped to her feet and turned to leave.  
  
Jane got to her feet and reached out to Daria  
  
"Wait Daria."  
  
Before she could say more Daria had walked off and towards the library. Jane sat down again and swore. Damn, another chance to properly talk with Daria gone, she'd probably avoid her for a while now. Damn damn damn. She looked down at the sandwich she'd been eating then sighed and put it back in her bag. She needed to talk to someone, anyone and she'd just ran off her best friend.  
  
Daria walked through the door of the library and headed to a quiet corner, she spotted Jodie working on something on the way there and debated going over and talking with her about the problem, Jodie had always been nice to her and would probably be willing to listen but she wasn't one to share her problems. Jodie looked up at Daria just as she turned and headed to the corner. Daria sat down and pulled out a sheet of paper. She looked at it for a few minutes trying to think of something to write when she saw, out of the corner of her eye, someone sit down next to her. She looked up to see a concerned looking Jodie looking at her.  
  
"I got the feeling that you might want to talk with someone," she said, smiling.  
  
Daria looked at her uncomfortably and decided she might as well see what Jodie had to say, it was probably better than doing nothing.  
  
"Well, it's just that things. haven't been to good between me and Jane lately" She managed  
  
Jodie moved the chair so she was facing Daria and put her bag on the floor. "How'd you mean?" Asked Jodie, her face showing some confusion  
  
Daria sighed and launched into an explanation of what had been going on between her, Jane and Tom. As she neared the end of her tale, Daria almost felt worn out.  
  
"And so, now Jane spends almost all her time with him and we hardly even talk." Daria leaned back and looked at Jodie who was showing a sympathetic smile.  
  
"I really think this is something that you'll have to talk with Jane about Daria." She offered  
  
Daria sighed, and nodded her head slowly  
  
"Yeah, I guess I already knew that." She sighed again "But if she's spending so much time with Tom, how am I going to talk to her?"  
  
"Hey Jodie!"  
  
The two girls looked over to see Mack walking over towards them, Jodie smiled at him and then turned back to Daria.  
  
"I know you'll figure something out, but I've got to go, talk to you later?" Jodie stood up and Daria nodded slightly and Jodie walked over to Mack, then the two left.  
  
Daria leaned back in her chair and gazed into nothingness, she knew she had to talk to Jane and she had to do it soon. The whole situation brought up a whole array of feelings that Daria never knew she had and didn't know what to do about. Daria was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice Jane look into the library, see her and start walking over.  
  
Jane had stayed on the field and tried to organize her thoughts, what was making this so complicated? It was just Daria being uncomfortable, why was this whole situation making her confused? Jane sighed looked up at the sky. She'd felt something when she'd been staring at Daria but she couldn't make sense of it, maybe if they talked she'd know what she meant. With this goal in mind, Jane Lane stood up and walked purposefully towards the Library.  
  
Jane walked up to Daria and stood in front of her, looking resolute.  
  
"Daria, we need to talk." She looked at Daria, who looked very nervous, maybe even as nervous as she felt.  
  
"Sure thing Jane, what do you want to talk about?" Daria managed  
  
Jane waved her up and Daria stood.  
  
"Not here, we're going to my house," She told her  
  
Daria looked at her and raised an eyebrow  
  
"You do realize we still have lessons don't you?"  
  
Jane smirked and shook her head.  
  
"This is too important, I'll fake illness and you'll volunteer to walk me home." Daria nodded vaguely and the two headed out of the library.  
A while later the duo was walking down a road on course for El Casa Lane. Both Daria and Jane looked uncomfortable and neither spoke, soon they had reached Janes road and were walking up to Janes door. Jane opened the door and motioned for Daria to come in.  
  
"I'll go see if Trent's around quickly," Jane was gone and back in a minute or so and looked at Daria, who had been standing uncomfortably in front of the door.  
  
"He's not here, come on, let's go up to my room and talk," The two headed up the stairs and into Janes room. Jane sat down on the desk chair and Daria sat on the bed. A few moments passed and suddenly Jane spoke up.  
  
"We really need to talk," Daria nodded and Jane took that as a sign to continue.  
  
"I kind of realized that I've been spending too much time with Tom, and maybe not enough with you." Jane sighed and Daria raised an eyebrow.  
  
"That's perceptive of you."  
  
Jane smiled slightly at the comment, she'd missed Daria's sarcasm a lot.  
  
"I still want to know why you're so uncomfortable around Tom though," Jane looked serious now and Daria decided that it would be better to get it out in the open.  
  
"Well, I don't want you to get angry but." Daria paused and Jane appeared expectant  
  
"I think I have a crush on him or something." Daria blushed when she said it and turned away expecting Jane to lash out. Jane took in what Daria said and mulled over it in her mind, Daria liked Tom but didn't want to get close because it would hurt Jane.  
  
Daria sneaked a look at Jane who was deep in thought, she'd always liked the way Jane looked. Daria's eye's widened slightly, where had that thought come from? Jane noticed her shock and turned to her.  
  
"What's with the surprise?" Jane had decided that Daria having a crush on Tom probably wasn't something to get too worked up about, at least Daria had told her about it.  
  
"Er, it was nothing." Daria blushed again, thinking again of Jane. Jane became more curious and smirked.  
  
"Thinking of Tom are we?"  
  
Daria shook her head, if you only knew. Jane stood up and stretched while yawning, Daria's eyes automatically studied Jane's form. Jane watched as Daria watched her and was surprised when she realized where Daria was concentrating on.  
  
Daria realized that she had been looking at Jane's chest for a few seconds and Jane was watching her intently.  
  
"Daria, is Tom the only one you have a crush on?" Jane sounded extremely serious and Daria became panicked, she jumped to her feet and headed to the door but Jane blocked her way.  
  
"I've got to go Jane, I just realized I'm late," Daria's eyes were looking everywhere but at Jane. Jane took hold of Daria's arms and led her back to the bed then sat beside her. Daria's face was red and she looked like she might bolt at any minute. Jane decided to take the chance and, cupping Daria's face in her hands, she kissed her best friend. 


End file.
